DUO Education has some great things in the works!!!! Today, I would like to present one of them. I am currently working on a creating a webinar service that connects young adult and children's authors and illustrators with students. It would almost be like the author/illustrator was making a school visit, only it would be on the internet instead of in person. I have already got quite a bit of interest for this program from authors. I just thought of adding the illustrators. I believe this would be both beneficial for the authors, illustrators, and the students... as well as broaden the audience of the program. This could be marketed to art classes as well as library classes and literacy classes. I have already talked with someone who works in an elementary school and have some support there. I am so excited! This idea seems to be catching on like wild fire! Now, I just need to work out some of the logistics: Which author/illustrator will be on which show? How will schools find out or sign up? What will the format of each program be? How will the webinar interface work? Which one will work best? Currently, I am working on gathering a list of authors and/or illustrators who would like to be a part of the program. For now, I cannot offer any payment. I need to know how it will work out and what my expenses will be. So, for now... it will be plenty of free exposure to the authors and illustrators who write and/or illustrate children's books and YA books. If you are interested, please contact me through the contact page at this link /contact-me.html, message me on my Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/jodi.gabert?ref=tn_tnmn, or email me at duo_dynamics@yahoo.com with your name, title(s), genres(s), reading level(s), audience level(s), and any site or contact information you would like to share. Also, please share, share, share about this program!!!! Help me to get the word out and make this a success for all! I will be on the list to present some of my books. Shown here are two of my books. More are in the works!

You could have your books listed too! I will do my best to help promote you and your books as well as the program. Yes... I keep calling it "a webinar" or "the program" because I have not decided on an official name for it yet. If you have any ideas, please let me know. I would also be happy to hear any suggestions on the logistics! Please consider this great idea! I look forward to hearing from you! I believe that this would be a great learning opportunity for many, many students! Thank you!

On a Related Note.....

I would like to introduce a very close friend of mine, Angie Harris. She is an author and illustrator who is on my list as well. Her books include a YA/Adult book titled, "The Realm" and children's book titled, "Momma's Little Helpers." She also presents a webinar which helped give me my idea called "The Weekly Bookclub Webinar." This is a similar program for adult audiences which takes place on the weekend. Her program is free for authors and readers. Please check it out at http://angieharris.weebly.com/weekly-bookclub-webinar.html! I have attended her webinars on more than one occasion. They are informal, entertaining, and informational! It is a growing success! Congrats Angie!

This is a great idea, Jodi. We did discuss this some already...I think the first thing to do is figure out the logistics of the webinar, such as, the program you will use for the webinar... Find out if a free webinar service would work well for you, or discover if you will have have to pay for a service, etc.

Once you have the webinar service figured out, then I would say it would be good to have a few tests with your author and illustrator buddies, to make sure all works well with it.

Maybe you could use the same webinar service as Angie. She would be a great resource for info on this subject.

As far as authors/illustrators...I am sure many of us will stand-up for the exposure.

For the author, once the webinar date is set with the school, further exposure could be had by the author sending a sell sheet, to the school. This page would include an author photo, a brief bio, bibliography, and a discounted price for children at the webinar to purchase books. The sell sheet could be sent to the school by the author in multiple copies. Then the teacher could send them home to each child where the parents could purchase the author's book that will be at the webinar. Book sales could come to the author before or after the webinar. So the extra exposure in a sense, would be in lieu any monetary compensation for being at the webinar.

Just thoughts...

To get the schools, it will have to be a lot of researching, finding out who the Principals are, and emailing them to pitch the webinar idea, along with the price you will charge for it. Keeping in mind, that since the author will not be there in person, the price could be discounted. Especially, if the school would work with the authors by having the teachers send home sell sheets, to the students--which equates to potential book sales.

Like I say, just thoughts...

Congratulations by the way, for your newly formatted book! :-)

Hugs,
-Virginia

Reply

Jodi Desautels

4/17/2013 01:37:19 pm

Thank you Virginia! It looks like you have a wealth of knowledge here! They all sound like good ideas! I am working on doing many of those things now. It all takes time. I look forward to getting this program started. Thank you for your support. I look forward to having you as a featured author and/or illustrator on the program! Thank you for your support as well as the kind words about my book. (((((hugs)))))

Reply

Jodi Desautels

4/17/2013 01:33:33 pm

Tracy, thank you for stopping by! I am glad you like the idea! At first I thought I would open up the webinar idea to just authors, however, I have decided to open it up to illustrators as well. Please let me know if you are interested! Happy to have you! Oh, and thank you for the kind words about my book! I am excited too!

This sounds like a perfect idea. I added my comment about the name. It was great talking to you and you sound like you are on a high about this. Although I don't write YA books I am in the process of short stories about Billy. I wish you the best of luck with this and I am going to follow you and your sites. Lots of good comments here. Talk to you soon.

Reply

Jodi Desautels

4/21/2013 05:56:09 am

Thank you for stopping by Anastasia. I appreciate your kind statements. Yes, please follow and feel free to comment any time. I appreciate whatever ideas and comments people want to share. It is my belief that people can learn from each other and help each other. I hope to share that with others. Yes... I am soooooo excited about this new program!